


Tat Tvam Asi

by CarminaVulcana



Series: Broken Unbroken [4]
Category: Baahubali (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 07:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19168609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CarminaVulcana/pseuds/CarminaVulcana
Summary: Baahubali is slowly returning to normal life after 25 years of captivity. This is his new mission.





	Tat Tvam Asi

  ** _Niraasha_**

_This body made of dust and dirt, shall remain tied to the dust and dirt of Mahishmati till its last breath._

The words are spoken by Katappa for himself, but the irony of their meaning is not lost on him, not when another of this land is wasting away behind unforgiving metal bars.

Aslam Khan, the arms trader from Kabul does not know about Amarendra Baahubali. Consequently, he does not see past the facade of loyalty Katappa presents to the world.

And that is why, he would never know the pain of being a slave like Katappa. He would never know the torment of being forced to commit savagery upon the one person the slave had ever loved as his own child.

But such is the fate of his lot. And yet, while he yearns for things beyond his control, his beloved Baahu perseveres. Where does he find the strength to keep his head down like that? Or wait, is it not strength after all? Perhaps, after all these years, Baahu has been broken down?

In the midst of his prime, they called him an avatar of Rudra. But for years now, he has been nothing but a forgotten name, forsaken even by the Gods, including Mahadev- the God who supposedly never forsakes anyone.

The misery Baahu lives through each day, drives a poisonous dart into Katappa’s soul—the deprivation, the torture, the dehumanization, the injustice of it all, the futility of somehow holding on—why does he live? And won’t he, Katappa, follow him to purgatory if he does decide to end this nightmare?

But he never voices this dangerous and reckless suggestion. He is, after all, a slave. His life is not his own. Neither is his death. And seeing even the beaten form of Baahubali each day, breathing, existing, allows him to soldier on.

No, he will never think of this again. Baahubali must live, even if he is barely alive.

Katappa does not know but their lives are about to change. And with the change, hope would come. The stains of regrets, hurt, and helplessness would finally be washed away from the earth.

**_ Akanksha _ **

It makes him happy to finally see him recover, albeit at a slow pace. What will happen, will happen. They don’t know how Mahendra will deal with the legal ramifications of his father’s non-human status. The poor boy is having the constitution practically re-written to change what he says are barbaric laws.

Katappa agrees with him personally, but he will never say it. No matter what Mahendra comes up with, it will not improve Katappa's position. His fate was sealed centuries ago by his dead ancestors. No legal amendment can undo the power of an oath made upon the honor of a family's name. 

However, he is hopeful that things would change for Amarendra. He deserves so much more than what is being given to him currently. Where he should have love and reverence, he has nothing but scorn and jeering titters that follow him around everywhere he goes. Bhallaladeva's toxic ideas run deep in some minds. And Katappa wishes there was a way to weed them out for good. 

It bothers him to see how some of the court officials and clergy treat Baahubali. They wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole, let alone share meals with him. But just as he holds his tongue and accepts the bigotry with a humble sort of resignation, so does Katappa.

However, Devasena, always the people’s princess, has found a new way to keep her husband’s spirits up while he recovers from his years in captivity and while their son finds a way to restore his dignity.

Every afternoon, he sits in the garden and offers tuition classes to the children from the nearby towns and villages. Under Bhallaladeva’s inefficient rule, gurukulams and institutions of higher learning had taken a serious blow. He had forced them to abandon so-called “objectionable and/or traitorous” parts of the Shastras and insisted that the history of Mahishmati be taught only from a very specific angle. Needless to say, his interfering ways, lack of funds, and the pressure of propaganda, had pushed important subjects like mathematics, geometry, algebra, and physics to the background.

But now, there is no need to shy away from these subjects.

Amarendra Baahubali excels at them and he is happy to share his vast knowledge and insight with children of all ages and social groups.

“The lowest common multiple of 12 and 56 is 168,” he explains patiently to Sandhiya, an 8-year-old girl whose mother works at the palace as a cook.

“What is the difference between the expansion of a sum of cubes and the sum of two independent numbers that have been cubed prior to addition?” another child asks and Baahubali turns to him, explaining BODMAS and the simplification process of algebraic identities.

Unlike the brahmins who teach at ashrams, he does not sit on a raised pedestal. He chooses to sit among the children, under the giant banyan tree that was planted by the first king of the Sarvasteera dynasty, Maharaja Rajendra Kushagram.

After the lessons in numbers and variables, he moves on to the natural sciences.

The sunny afternoons in the garden seem like a picnic to the children while he teaches them botany through the many specimens of flowers and herbs planted in the flowerbeds.

On some days, he teaches them to dissect the flowers and study their parts. On other days, they learn about the medicinal properties of various leaves and fruits.

When he is teaching, he is happy. He often loses the track of time and it no longer bothers him that he has to eat alone, much later than everyone else. Devasena always wants to wait for him. But he has forbidden her.

He wants her to eat with the rest of the family. If they mean to stay in Mahishmati, they would not make noise unnecessarily.

Sometimes, he worries that Rajmata Vaidehi will eventually have a rebellion at her hands. But so far, she has proven herself to be an able queen. She does not practice untouchability. She does not treat him like a leper. For that, he is grateful.

Taking his meals away from everyone, is his way of keeping her troubles to a minimum.

The children’s classes have given him a respectable excuse to stay away without making his motives obvious.

He has almost fooled everyone.

But not his wife. Nor Katappa.

They would like to say something to him but they never do.

They know him too well.

He is a giver.

Even while in exile, he worked tirelessly in the fields, the mines, and the quarry. He improved the infrastructure in the village. He lifted and carried baskets of stone, wood, and other construction material on his shoulders. He built water tanks, pulley systems, and storage rooms with his bare hands. 

Later, when his back ached and his arms cramped, he never said anything. He never asked for anything in return either.

Because Devasena has always known his selfless nature, she allows him to choose his own way of dealing with his new reality even now.

After being denied agency for so long, it is the least he deserves.

That he has found himself wanted and cherished once again in his own land, is beyond priceless.

His body made of dust and dirt, no longer languishes without hope or purpose. It now teaches Mahishmati’s future custodians to measure the circumference of each step they take; towards a better tomorrow for all of them.


End file.
